Net of unity

Indra's Net, the title of Rajiv Malhotra's new book, reminds your columnist of one of The Times of India's pioneering brands called Indrajal (Indra's Net) that launched comics in the country. Malhotra, who is an Indian-American specialising in world religions, cross cultural encounters and science, however, warns that his book has nothing to do with black magic, spells and incantation that one normally associates with Indrajal!

"The title of my book is a metaphor for the profound cosmology and outlook that permeates Hinduism," he told this writer in Mumbai recently. "Indra's Net symbolises the universe as a web of connections and interdependencies among all its members, wherein every member is a manifestation of the whole and inseparable from the whole."

This idea of a web of cosmic connections spun by the great deity Shakra or Indra originated in the Atharvavedaand and it went on to become one of the pillars of Buddhism, and from there spread into western discourse across several disciplines, Malhotra explains.

When one sees Hinduism from such a holistic and holographic vantage, it becomes difficult to corset this great religion into suffocating categories such as traditional, modern and post-modern; these are the labels with which the west defines itself, he argues.

"Rather, it becomes evident that Hinduism has always spanned all three categories simultaneously and without contradiction."

His argument evokes the image of Shiva's Trinity, also known as that of Master of Time past, present and future, enshrined at Gharapuri Island before it became Elephanta.